GHS bounces Acorns 68-34 in the opening round of the 31st annual
Bob Hagen Memorial Tournament on Thursday at GHS.
Kyle Stannard is starting to make a habit of hitting buzzer-beating 3-pointers.
The senior picked up his second in three games, connecting on a deep trey – one of his three conversions from beyond the arc – to close out the third quarter.
The bank shot catapulted the Gilroy High boys varsity basketball team up by 33 points en route to a runaway 68-34 victory over Live Oak in the opening round of the 31st annual Bob Hagen Memorial Tournament on Thursday at GHS.
Stannard posted a team-high 13 points off the bench for the Mustangs in the rout. As a team, the Mustangs sank seven 3-pointers and all 15 players saw action, each contributing at least two points.
“You just have to be ready mentally and physically to get in the game,” Stannard said.
Seven different Mustangs scored in the second quarter alone.
The Acorns didn’t push past 30 points until the two-minute mark of the fourth quarter as the Mustangs (6-1) held their fifth team in six games to under 50 points.
“We want to make them rush their offense and keep our fast break going,” Stannard said.
GHS forced 21 turnovers and executed most of those opportunities into transition buckets. A four-point burst at the conclusion of the first quarter perfectly illustrated the Mustangs’ philosophy as Cameron Yawary and Cameron Harrell, with stingy half-court defense, created two easy back-to-back lay-ups for Johnathan Lester, which put GHS up 15-5 at the end of one.
A Yawary lay-in, Stannard trey and Niko Fortino up and under highlighted a quick one-minute scoring spree in the second quarter. Steven Hebert and and Connor Ross closed out the half with four and two points, respectively, as GHS built a 39-12 lead at the break.
GHS opened the second half with a 10-3 run bookended by a Chima Ikeme hard-work lay-up inside and a Ryan Valentino-Pickett 3-pointer from the corner.
Entering the fourth quarter, three players had yet to find nylon, but that quickly changed. Dietrich Baumgartner, Nick Chang and Charles Walker all saw significant minutes in the final period and hit one shot each.
The Mustangs continue play today at 6:30 p.m. against Aptos, who defeated North Monterey County.
